Аракин. Учебник английского языка для студентов языковых специальностей. Аракин. Учебник английского языка для студентов языковых специал. Практический курс английского языка 4 курс Под редакцией В. Д. Аракина
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b) Summarize your observations and report them to the group. c) Work out a suggested weekly viewing guide based on the recommendations of group members. Beside each programme write the reasons for its appeal: humorous, realistic, unusual, exciting, good story, pop music, relaxing, well-acted, etc. Little-known programmes could be described by students familiar with them. 12. Write a newspaper criticism of a TV programme that you have seen of any of the following types: a) a news programme, current affairs review, etc.; b) a documentary; c) an entertainment programme, show, etc.; d) a children's programme; e) a film shown on TV; f) a sports programme; g) an educational programme or any other. 13. Group work. Your TV company needs a TV host/hostess for a children's programme. Work in groups of three or four. One of the group is a candidate for the job, and the others are interviewing him/her. Before starting, the interviewers should prepare a list of questions and the interviewee should prepare, his/her curriculum vitae.1 The interviewers should ask questions about the candidate's previous job; the certificates/diplomas/degrees/experience he/she has had; his/ her personal situation (married, with children); the candidate's reasons for applying for the place in a children's TV programme and other questions. (Use appropriate cliches and techniques). After about ten minutes the applicants change to another interviewing panel and so on. Each group decides on the best applicant and gives reasons for the choice. 14. Do library research and prepare an essay on one of the following topics: 1. Television and cinematography. Will one oust the other? 2. Television in the USA: a) news programmes; b) educational programmes; c) children's programmes; d) entertainment programmes. ___________ 1 curriculum vitae — a list of qualifications (education, degrees, experience, references, interests) used when applying for a job in some academic field, i. e. teachers, exchange students, deans, etc. Unit Seven From: THE TIME OF MY LIFE by Denis Healey TEXT DRAWING BACK THE CURTAIN Denis Healey was bom in 1917 and brought up in Yorkshire. After gainig a double first at Balliol College, Oxford, for six years he was a soldier learning about real life. Another six years as International Secretary of the Labour Party taught him much about politics, both at home and abroad. From 1952 to 1992 he was a Labour Member of Parliament for Leeds. He is a prolific journalist and broadcaster. He has published Healey's Eye, a book on his life as a photographer, and has contributed essays to many publications for the Fabian Society1 including New Fabian essays and Fabian International Essays. When Shrimps Leant to Whistle, Signposts for the Nineties, also published by Penguin, include a selection of his earlier writings which are relevant to the world after the Cold War. In the early years after the war, when we first heard the truth of what Russia was doing in Eastern Europe, and began to look more objectively at the Soviet Union itself, my generation was powerfully influenced by George Orwell's 1984, and by a flood of books which purported to analyse the nature of totalitarianism. My visits to Eastern Europe cured me of any erratic illusions. No power could destroy national traditions which were rooted in centuries of history. Moreover, these peoples yearned to return to the Europe in which Chopin and Bartok were part of a common civilisation with Bach and Verdi. Once Stalin died, it was clear that Soviet Communism already carried the seeds of its own destruction. The Russia of Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky and Herzen was still there beneath the surface. Stalin could no more expunge it from the consciousness of its people than Hitler could liquidate the Germany of Beethoven, Goethe, and Kant. I had been fascinated by Russia since I read its great novelists as a schoolboy. My years in the Communist Party at Oxford had given me sufficient understanding of Stalinism to reject it even while I still saw Russia as a socialist state and a necessary ally against Hitler. I was also impressed by much of pre-war Soviet culture. The great Soviet film-makers of those days — Einstein, Pudovkin, and Dovzhenko — seemed superior to their Western rivals. Though I loathed "Socialist Realism", I admired the paintings of Deineka. They were in a book given me by a friend; she also introduced me to Shostakovich's opera, The Lady Macbeth ofMtsensk. After the war I found that my friend had disappeared during the great purges, and that Lady Macbeth had been banned. This helped to reinforce the bitter hostility I had developed for Soviet policies both at home and abroad. Most of our visit was spent in sightseeing. We were of course, with our consent, taken to schools, factories, and collective farms. It also included the visits to the Hermitage in Leningrad and the magnificent summer palace of Peter the Great overlooking the Gulf of Finland, its fountains sparkling in the autumn sun, its rococo buildings gleaming with white and gold; like most other palaces, it had been meticulously restored to its former glory after almost total destruction by the Nazis. In Leningrad we were given a concert at what had originally been the club where members of the first Russian Parliament, or Duma, used to meet, hi those nineteenth-century surroundings, the concert itself was like a salon at the court of Queen Victoria, as sopranos and baritones in evening dress sang ballads and songs by "Kompositori Verdi" in voices of remarkable purity. By comparison with the eighteenth-century canals of Leningrad, which might have been part of Amsterdam or Bremen, the Kremlin brought us to the heart of old Russia. I had imagined it a building as grimly functional as the Party it housed, and was quite unprepared for the mediaeval splendour of its palaces and churches, scattered among copses of birch and lilac. My visit to Russia in 1959 began to give me some sense of these cultural changes. I was immensely impressed by the charm and quality of the young sixth formers we met in Leningrad at school. In manner and appearance they could have come from any of the upperclass families described by Turgenev or Tolstoy. Similarly, the colleges which taught foreign languages and international affairs were giving a rounded education to able young men and women, who are now in key positions in their country, where their knowledge of the outside world is invaluable. The creative intelligentsia, such outstanding people as Sa-kharov, with his strong opposition to using the hydrogen bomb, Solzhenitsyn, exposing the life in a labour camp (A Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich), Yevtushenko with his poem Babiy Yar on anty-Semitism in the Soviet Union — were giving a headache to the authorities. And yet we saw signs of the cultural thaw all around us. Jazz was officially disliked, but they didn't use the power of the state to prevent it. Its public performance was then largely confined to the circus and music hall. In Leningrad we saw an ice-spectacular in which the girls were half-naked, in costumes reminiscent of the pre-war Folies Bergere. The theatre and ballet had changed little since the revolution, the best had been preserved. The Moscow Arts Theatre performed Chekhov as Stanislavsky had produced it half a century eariler — as sad comedy rather than as tragedy with humour. The only ideological change I noticed was in Uncle Vanya: Astrov was presented as a handsome, vigorous young prophet of a better future, rather than as the wrinkled cynic of Olivier's2 interpretation at the Old Vie3. We saw the aging Ulanova at the Bolshoi in a ballet based on a novel by Peter Abrahams about Apartheid4 in South Africa, which called on her to act rather than to dance. On the other hand we saw Plisetskaya at her best as prima ballerina in Prokofiev's The Stone Flower. Ishall never forget her rippling sinuosity. In 1963, when I next visited Russia, the general atmosphere was more liberal than on my first visit, and as I was not on official delegation, but attending an informal conference between Soviet and Western politicians, I had a good deal more freedom. Our guide was a gentle young man called Kolya who had just got his degree in foreign languages. He had been at the World Youth Congress that summer in Moscow, and greatly enjoyed reciting phrases of hair-raising obscenity which he had picked up from his American comrades. Jazz was now all the rage, and since imports of Western records had been stopped, a disk by Dave Brubeck was beyond price. Since then the international youth culture has swept the whole of Russia like a hurricane. I learned much from these visits to Russia, restricted though they were, and was to learn more still from later visits. I do not accept the view that short visits to foreign countries are more likely to mislead than to educate. On the contrary, providing you have done your home-work before you go, they not only enable you to check some of your views, but also provide you with a library of sense-impressions which give reality to any news you read later. However, for this purpose I think three days is better than three weeks.Anything over a week and less than three years is liable to confuse you. But series of short visits, at intervals of over a year, can give you a sense of the underlying trends in a foreign country which no accounts in the press can provide. Above all, I learned that the Russians, like us, were human beings, although they were not human beings like us. Commentary 1. The Fabian Society — a British organisation of left wing thinkers which was a founder or the Labour Party and used to have an important influence on it. 2. Oliver Sir Lawrence, also Larry (1907-1989). English actor thought of by many people as the greatest of the 20th century. He was the first director of the National Theatre and the first actor to be made a life peer. Most people know his films of Shakespeare's plays Hamlet, Henry V, Richard III. 3. Old Vic — a London theatre originally opened in 1818, the full name of which is the Royal Victoria Theatre. 4. Apartheid in South Africa. The system established by the Government of keeping different races separate so as to give advantage to white people. The South African government is now removing the apartheid laws and ending the system. SPEECH PATTERNS 1. I learned much from those visits, restricted though they were. Hard working though he was, there was never enough money to pay the bills. Strange though it may seem I am a great admirer of the great film-makers of those days. 2. The Moscow Arts Theatre performed Chekhov as sad comedy rather than as tragedy with humour. Astrov was presened as a young prophet rather than as the cynic of Olivier's interpretation at the Old Vic. 3. The ballet... called on her to act rather than to dance. These short visits are more likely to mislead rather than to educate. Phrases and Word Combinations to cany the seeds of to be all the rage destruction to sweep (the country, the to reinforce the hostilily place) like a hurricane to be restored to glory to be in key positions to see smb at smb's best to be beyond price to give smb a headache an ally against smb in the early years after the War signs of the cultural thaw ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY 1. include vt to bring in, to regard as part of the whole, e. g. This atlas contains fifty maps, including six of North America. The price is ten dollars, postage included. Ant. exclude (from) 1) to prevent smb from getting in somewhere, as to exclude a person from membership of a society, immigrants from a country. 2) to prevent the chance of smth arising, as to exclude all possibility of doubt inclusion n including or being included, e. g. The inclusion of several new themes made the novel much more interesting. inclusive a including, e. g. Russian students' winter holidays lasHrom January 25 to February 6 inclusive. Ant. exclusive (of people, societies, clubs, etc.), e. g. The exclusive right of a company to print, publish and sell an author's books is known as copyright. 2. account vt/i 1) for a) to explain the cause of; serve as an explanation of, answer (to smb for smth), e. g. He has been asked to account for his conduct. Ah, that accounts for it! There's no accounting for tastes, b) to give a reckoning of (money that has been entrusted to one), e. g. The boy has to account to his parents for the money they give him for school expenses. 2) to consider, as to account smb wise (a hero), e. g. In English law a man is accounted innocent until he is proved guilty. account n 1) a statement of money (to be) paid or received for goods or services, e. g. I.would like to open an account with your bank. Put the goods down to my account 2) a credit arrangement with a bank or business firm. to square (balance) accounts with smb (fig.) to remove moral grievances between people by giving or taking punishment, e. g. Let us square accounts. David said he was going to square accounts with the man who had given false testimony against him. 3) a report, description, narrative, e. g. By all accounts the trip has been a success. He doesn't believe newspaper accounts of the new developments there. 4) consideration to take smth into account, to take no account of smth, e. g. Please take into account the fact that he has very little money. Take no account of such slanderous gossip, we know it's not true. 5) reason, cause on account of because of, e. g. On account of his age he wasn't allowed into the pub. on no account, not on any account in no case, for no reason, e. g. Don't on any account leave the baby alone in the house. accountant n Syn. book-keeper 3. preserve vt I) to keep from spoiling, from decay, from risk of going bad (by boiling, pickling, making into jam, etc.) as to preserve fruit, eggs, milk, vegetables, e g. It's easy to preserve vegetables in vinegar. to preserve monuments to keep from harm, e. g. The ancient monument was preserved by the local people. 2) to keep up, as to preserve peace, to preserve one's eyesight, to preserve the memory of another, to preserve one's looks, strength, composure, to preserve appearances, silence, to preserve old customs, a well-preserved old man, e. g. Don't read in poor light if you want to preserve your good eyesight. The leader's main aim was to preserve peace. 4. erratic a irregular in behaviour or opinion (of a person or his behaviour); likely to do unusual or unexpected things, e. g. She's so erratic I never know how she's going to react to my suggestions. error n smth done wrong, a mistake, as spelling errors; an error of judgement, e. g. Not to commit an error of judgement he looked for more evidence. err vi (formal) to make mistakes; to do or to be wrong, e. g. To err is human. 5. make vt/i 1) (used with a large number of nouns in special senses) to make a clean breast of; to make a full disclosure or confession, e. g. Susan is going to make a clean breast of her extravagance as soon as her husband gets home. to make ends meet to live within one's income, e. g. The Evans family found it very difficult to make ends meet after the birth of the new baby. to make haste to hurry, e. g. Make haste or we shall miss the train. If you don't make haste, the stores will be closed, (the most frequent uses are in the present and the imperative) to make head or tail (of smth) to understand, to make sense of it (colloq.), e. g. I have read the document through three times, but I cant make head or tail of it. to make it to get to a destination or an appointment in time (si or eolloq,), e, g. I had hoped to get to the meeting, but I found at the last minute that I couldn't make it. to make much of to make a great fuss of, e. g. The newspapers all made much of his achievement. 2) (used with adverbial particles and prepositions). to make smth of smb (smth) to understand, interpret, e. g. What are we to make of his behaviour? to make off to run away, to bolt, e. g. The thieves smashed the shop window and made off with a large amount of jewelry. to make smth out 1) to write out, e. g. Make out a cheque for $ 10. 2) to manage to see, read, e. g. We made out a figure in the darkness. The outline of the house could just be made out. 3) to understand, e. g. I can't make out what he wants. She's a strange sort of person; I can't make her put. to make up 1) to compose; invent, e. g. The teacher asked the children to make up a poem about their summer holidays. 2) to use cosmetics (in ordinary life and on the stage), e. g. At one time it was not considered good taste for women to make up. 3) to become reconciled after a quarrel, e. g. When a quarrel has been made up, the best thing to do is to forget it. |